Mayor To Deliver "Grim Economic News" at Noon

Comptroller William Thompson having spelled out yesterday the dire state of the city's economy, Mayor Bloomberg is expected to fill us in today at noon about his draconian budget plans. To dull our outrage, he has leaked some details, which appear under headlines like amNY's "Grim economic update likely from NYC mayor."

About 23,000 city employees, almost half of them from the Department of Education, will reportedly lose their jobs "if," the New York Post warns, "labor unions don't agree to givebacks and Albany doesn't cough up enough aid." "The Mayor will need help from all of our partners," Deputy Mayor Ed Skyler tells the Staten Island Advance, "from the municipal unions to the leadership in both the state and nation's capitol." Since they're all Democrats, the Mayor probably expects they will decide among themselves who'll pitch in what.

Also, the city sales tax is expected to be raised by 0.375 percent to 8.75, and the property tax rebates that the Mayor tried unsuccessfully to retroactively rescind last year will not be revisited. He also wants to get that bag tax going.

"Mike Bloomberg will never transcend the prison of his limited worldview," responds the Neighborhood Retail Alliance. "It is up to the voters now to see through the smoke and mirrors of the Myth of Mike-finally awakening to the fact that he is no fiscal wizard, but simply the little man behind the curtain."